Bearing the Yoke in Youth
The Scripture says in Lamentations 3:27: “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.”
This verse is often applied to emphasize the importance of youth learning to bear responsibility related to work and learning to endure the hardship of physical labor. Though that is an appropriate application of this verse, it doesn’t describe the breadth of its significance.
In its context this verse is directly dealing with how much better it is to bear chastisement for sin, do the things necessary to amend the wickedness which occasioned the chastening, and to wait on God to relieve that chastening than it is to kick against chastisement. When a Christian is out of line with God’s Word, when righteousness and truth aren’t in every way prevailing in them, coming into line will be painful. Turning one’s life right side up before God will make life seem upside down from the standpoint of our natural tendencies and the bad habits we’ve acquired. People know instinctively that dealing with God in truth won’t end with just giving up this sin or that sin. God is holy; and He commands us to be holy as He is holy- therefore He will be jealous to attack ungodliness deep in our hearts and in every thread of our lives. It is no mystery that the Bible equates true belief in Jesus with being His disciple- and being His disciple necessarily means cooperating with the fire of His Holy Spirit which seeks to consume all that is unholy in man, putting His finger on this and then that, zealous for righteousness and truth to prevail thoroughly in man. Repenting of sin and surrendering to Him doesn’t relieve us of this work happening. It really causes this work to commence! (There’s no doubt though that God sheds light on sinners, convicts them, and deals with them in order to bring them to this point of repentance and surrender to His divine authority).
Hebrews 12:5-11: “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby”
Speaking again of mankind in general: Men don’t want to submit to God for similar reasons that people often don’t want to go to a doctor and take his advice, even when they know or suspect something is seriously wrong. Operations, drastic lifestyle changes, and opening up everything to the doctor’s scrutiny is a hard yoke to bear. It is easier to just be left alone for the moment. Yet those who consider the future and consider the doctor’s perfect record will know that the pain and inconvenience of surrendering to the doctor’s care and heeding His instructions are well worth it.
The Bible even speaks of many people not getting this message despite merciful attempts by God to drive the message home by laying very great yokes upon them. The devil has his own ways to draw people away from God. And sadly, man often chooses to go into his snares rather than to Jesus Christ so as to cooperate with Him unto salvation from sin.
Amos 4:6-13: “And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The Lord, The God of hosts, is his name.”
With that said, it is yet true that those who are used to being at ease and don’t have experience bearing much pain have not been conditioned to respond well to the doctor’s treatment. It will be especially tempting for them to make excuses not to cooperate with the doctor or to cut corners in following His treatment. And even if they don’t do such, their treatment may be an especially slow progress; and the best operations and medicines could be things that they may be too weak to bear. The doctor may need to do a lot of extra work just to prepare them to handle the best treatments. The Ultimate Great Physician is of course perfect in strength, wisdom, and knowledge; yet many refuse to heed Him; while those who are willing to heed Him are earthen vessels who have different degrees of ability to handle and respond well to His treatment.
And this, I believe, hits much closer to the best application of Lamentations 3:27: “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.” Trials and hardships in life generally make people better able to handle suffering as a Christian and better able to thrive in Christian service, (when and if) they choose to deny themselves the pleasures of sin, take up their cross, and follow Christ according to His Word.
Everyone has problems, yet there is such a thing as suffering that bothers, badgers, and maybe even torments a person day in and day out for days, months, or even years.
Almost everyone has responsibilities and pressures, yet there are responsibilities and pressures which are especially critical, constant, stressful, and/or enduring that they are a heavy, uncomfortable yoke.
Sometimes these things happen to people simply through natural circumstances. They may come in relation to natural impairments, family issues, awkward social situations, or uncomfortable living circumstances. They may come in relation to poverty and/or disaster in one’s area or nation. They may come through calamity related to disease or crime. Used properly, these things should be used to drive home the message to get right with God through Jesus Christ and to hold on to Him very tightly. Everyone’s eternity depends on this, yet a great help to practically remembering this is when your natural life is hard to bear (maybe even hangs in the balance) and your need for God’s grace is apparent daily.
And sometimes, though far from always the case (many sinners do live at ease), such yokes are produced by a person’s own sins (a just prison sentence would be one example). When this is evidently the case, it is a merciful reminder of the bitter consequences of sin which no doubt will be eternal for those who do not repent before God in order to partake of the redemption He offers in Jesus Christ. This is a lesson which doesn’t have to be learned in this way, but whenever consequences for sin do come in this life, that is a merciful event which should persuade us to glorify God, cast our sins away from us, and turn to Jesus Christ- the very lesson which we should have already comprehended.
And sometimes for the disciple of Jesus Christ, these great yokes can come as the very consequence of faithful service to Him. Maybe that will be apparent, maybe it won’t be. Yet either way, the Christian should understand that the trials and afflictions which they suffer as they follow the Lord, are important for several reasons. They teach us to know and discern what our heart should be like in light of death, Judgment Day, and eternity (see Eccl. 7:1-6, Eccl. 12:13-14). They certainly also teach us not to get comfortable in the world and to not regard our lives as our own. They teach us to comfort others who are suffering in a godly way; and the help we receive in them is able in itself to encourage others to trust in the Lord (2 Corinthians 1:4-6). There is also discernment which can be gained in such times which is near or altogether impossible to get in other ways, especially when not preceded by such a time of trial and affliction.
Trials and suffering overall prepare those who will seek the Lord through them, and who will also cooperate with the Lord beyond them, for important service and great deeds. They are almost or altogether necessary precursors for these actually. It is hard to think of someone in the Bible who was greatly used by God who didn’t have a notable yoke to bear beforehand. The norm for those in this category is that their life was for a large span, if not altogether, a continual yoke where ease and happiness related to earth became strange to them. Jesus Himself was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. It shouldn’t be considered strange if those who follow Him become like that too. He said in John 12:26: “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor.”
This is not written to try to say that more suffering is always better nor is it written to say that there is never a time when God wouldn’t be glorified better by delivering a person from having to face a grievous yolk. It is also not written as an attempt to explain every calamity and hardship in life. It is rather written to help with a perspective shift in light of eternity which is crucial to have, whether you are bearing a great yoke at the moment or not.
It is essential to know the severity of God, that He is so serious about His guarantee of an eternal hell for the unrepentant, and so serious about molding His people into the product He seeks (a redeemed people bearing His image, a pleasing bride for Christ), that He will allow great trouble for man, even great trouble for many years or decades, to open his ears to these things and persuade him to seek Him with the whole heart in order to cooperate with the great salvation which He offers mankind through Jesus Christ. Knowing this in principle, let alone knowing it experientially, should make anyone tremble before God and make being reconciled to Him and doing His will their absolute, unquestioned top priorities which nothing will delay; and which no obstacle, threat, or other hazard will deter them from. And if following through with that ends up making life harder, don’t be shocked. But don’t be shocked either if the experience of previous hardships you’ve gone through ends up proving essential to aid you in navigating and continuing on the rough, narrow road you’ve entered. We should certainly take to heart that we through much tribulation must enter into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). Tribulation can happen for many reasons; yet tribulation is something which is bound to accompany walking righteously and being faithful before God. It is a great deception to think we can have that without tribulation. It is very helpful to be accustomed to it already. God cares about us, but our now is not the top priority for Him. He has a much greater goal which He is seeking to accomplish with us. May these things renew our minds according to the truth to help us be bold to follow the truth of His Word honestly, faithfully, and without being restrained by terror of where that might take us.
Hebrews 12:25-29: ““See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.”
1 Peter 4:12-19: “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”
Proverbs 15:32-33: “He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility.”
On Monday, October 24, 2022 at 01:44:34 PM PDT, Aaron Carey <[email protected]> wrote:
Bearing the Yoke in Youth
On Monday, October 24, 2022 at 01:43:00 PM PDT, WFFC <[email protected]> wrote:
Excellent! Looking forward to the audio link I can download : )
Also, a title.
On 10/24/2022 4:40 PM, Aaron Carey wrote:
The Scripture says in Lamentations 3:27: “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.”
This verse is often applied to emphasize the importance of youth learning to bear responsibility related to work and learning to endure the hardship of physical labor. Though that is an appropriate application of this verse, it doesn’t describe the breadth of its significance.
In its context this verse is directly dealing with how much better it is to bear chastisement for sin, do the things necessary to amend the wickedness which occasioned the chastening, and to wait on God to relieve that chastening than it is to kick against chastisement. When a Christian is out of line with God’s Word, when righteousness and truth aren’t in every way prevailing in them, coming into line will be painful. Turning one’s life right side up before God will make life seem upside down from the standpoint of our natural tendencies and the bad habits we’ve acquired. People know instinctively that dealing with God in truth won’t end with just giving up this sin or that sin. God is holy; and He commands us to be holy as He is holy- therefore He will be jealous to attack ungodliness deep in our hearts and in every thread of our lives. It is no mystery that the Bible equates true belief in Jesus with being His disciple- and being His disciple necessarily means cooperating with the fire of His Holy Spirit which seeks to consume all that is unholy in man, putting His finger on this and then that, zealous for righteousness and truth to prevail thoroughly in man. Repenting of sin and surrendering to Him doesn’t relieve us of this work happening. It really causes this work to commence! (There’s no doubt though that God sheds light on sinners, convicts them, and deals with them in order to bring them to this point of repentance and surrender to His divine authority).
Hebrews 12:5-11: “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby”
Speaking again of mankind in general: Men don’t want to submit to God for similar reasons that people often don’t want to go to a doctor and take his advice, even when they know or suspect something is seriously wrong. Operations, drastic lifestyle changes, and opening up everything to the doctor’s scrutiny is a hard yoke to bear. It is easier to just be left alone for the moment. Yet those who consider the future and consider the doctor’s perfect record will know that the pain and inconvenience of surrendering to the doctor’s care and heeding His instructions are well worth it.
The Bible even speaks of many people not getting this message despite merciful attempts by God to drive the message home by laying very great yokes upon them. The devil has his own ways to draw people away from God. And sadly, man often chooses to go into his snares rather than to Jesus Christ so as to cooperate with Him unto salvation from sin.
Amos 4:6-13: “And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The Lord, The God of hosts, is his name.”
With that said, it is yet true that those who are used to being at ease and don’t have experience bearing much pain have not been conditioned to respond well to the doctor’s treatment. It will be especially tempting for them to make excuses not to cooperate with the doctor or to cut corners in following His treatment. And even if they don’t do such, their treatment may be an especially slow progress; and the best operations and medicines could be things that they may be too weak to bear. The doctor may need to do a lot of extra work just to prepare them to handle the best treatments. The Ultimate Great Physician is of course perfect in strength, wisdom, and knowledge; yet many refuse to heed Him; while those who are willing to heed Him are earthen vessels who have different degrees of ability to handle and respond well to His treatment.
And this, I believe, hits much closer to the best application of Lamentations 3:27: “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.” Trials and hardships in life generally make people better able to handle suffering as a Christian and better able to thrive in Christian service, (when and if) they choose to deny themselves the pleasures of sin, take up their cross, and follow Christ according to His Word.
Everyone has problems, yet there is such a thing as suffering that bothers, badgers, and maybe even torments a person day in and day out for days, months, or even years.
Almost everyone has responsibilities and pressures, yet there are responsibilities and pressures which are especially critical, constant, stressful, and/or enduring that they are a heavy, uncomfortable yoke.
Sometimes these things happen to people simply through natural circumstances. They may come in relation to natural impairments, family issues, awkward social situations, or uncomfortable living circumstances. They may come in relation to poverty and/or disaster in one’s area or nation. They may come through calamity related to disease or crime. Used properly, these things should be used to drive home the message to get right with God through Jesus Christ and to hold on to Him very tightly. Everyone’s eternity depends on this, yet a great help to practically remembering this is when your natural life is hard to bear (maybe even hangs in the balance) and your need for God’s grace is apparent daily.
And sometimes, though far from always the case (many sinners do live at ease), such yokes are produced by a person’s own sins (a just prison sentence would be one example). When this is evidently the case, it is a merciful reminder of the bitter consequences of sin which no doubt will be eternal for those who do not repent before God in order to partake of the redemption He offers in Jesus Christ. This is a lesson which doesn’t have to be learned in this way, but whenever consequences for sin do come in this life, that is a merciful event which should persuade us to glorify God, cast our sins away from us, and turn to Jesus Christ- the very lesson which we should have already comprehended.
And sometimes for the disciple of Jesus Christ, these great yokes can come as the very consequence of faithful service to Him. Maybe that will be apparent, maybe it won’t be. Yet either way, the Christian should understand that the trials and afflictions which they suffer as they follow the Lord, are important for several reasons. They teach us to know and discern what our heart should be like in light of death, Judgment Day, and eternity (see Eccl. 7:1-6, Eccl. 12:13-14). They certainly also teach us not to get comfortable in the world and to not regard our lives as our own. They teach us to comfort others who are suffering in a godly way; and the help we receive in them is able in itself to encourage others to trust in the Lord (2 Corinthians 1:4-6). There is also discernment which can be gained in such times which is near or altogether impossible to get in other ways, especially when not preceded by such a time of trial and affliction.
Trials and suffering overall prepare those who will seek the Lord through them, and who will also cooperate with the Lord beyond them, for important service and great deeds. They are almost or altogether necessary precursors for these actually. It is hard to think of someone in the Bible who was greatly used by God who didn’t have a notable yoke to bear beforehand. The norm for those in this category is that their life was for a large span, if not altogether, a continual yoke where ease and happiness related to earth became strange to them. Jesus Himself was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. It shouldn’t be considered strange if those who follow Him become like that too. He said in John 12:26: “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor.”
This is not written to try to say that more suffering is always better nor is it written to say that there is never a time when God wouldn’t be glorified better by delivering a person from having to face a grievous yolk. It is also not written as an attempt to explain every calamity and hardship in life. It is rather written to help with a perspective shift in light of eternity which is crucial to have, whether you are bearing a great yoke at the moment or not.
It is essential to know the severity of God, that He is so serious about His guarantee of an eternal hell for the unrepentant, and so serious about molding His people into the product He seeks (a redeemed people His image, a pleasing bride for Christ), that He will allow great trouble for man, even great trouble for many years or decades, to open his ears to these things and persuade him to seek Him with the whole heart in order to cooperate with the great salvation which He offers mankind through Jesus Christ. Knowing this in principle, let alone knowing it experientially, should make anyone tremble before God and make being reconciled to Him and doing His will their absolute, unquestioned top priorities which nothing will delay; and which no obstacle, threat, or other hazard will deter them from. And if following through with that ends up making life harder, don’t be shocked. But don’t be shocked either if the experience of previous hardships you’ve gone through ends up proving essential to aid you in navigating and continuing on the rough, narrow road you’ve entered. We should certainly take to heart that we through much tribulation must enter into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). Tribulation can happen for many reasons; yet tribulation is something which is bound to accompany walking righteously and being faithful before God. It is a great deception to think we can have that without tribulation. It is very helpful to be accustomed to it already. God cares about us, but our now is not the top priority for Him. He has a much greater goal which He is seeking to accomplish with us. May these things renew our minds according to the truth to help us be bold to follow the truth of His Word honestly, faithfully, and without being restrained by terror of where that might take us.
Hebrews 12:25-29: ““See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.”
1 Peter 4:12-19: “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”
Proverbs 15:32-33: “He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility.”
My email is: [email protected]